Christopher James Tassava, Ph.D.

Christopher James Tassava, Ph.D.
4044 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis MN 55407-3402
612-722-4412
christopher@tassava.com
www.tassava.com
EDUCATION
Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)
Ph.D., American History (2003)
dissertation: “Launching a Thousand Ships: Entrepreneurs, War Workers, and the State in American
Shipbuilding, 1940-1945”
committee: Ken Alder (chair), Michael Sherry, Joel Mokyr, Nancy MacLean
major field: the United States
specializations: science and technology, business
minor field: comparative Cold War
M.A., American History (1998)
thesis: “Cloaked in the Utmost Secrecy: Secrecy and Technology at Hanford, Washington, 1941-1946”
(winner, George Romani Prize for best M.A. thesis; Department of History, Northwestern
University)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MN)
graduate study in history of science and technology (1999)
Macalester College (St. Paul, MN)
B.A., magna cum laude (1995) in history and religious studies (Phi Beta Kappa)
PUBLICATIONS
Historical Articles
“Weak Seams: Controversy over Welding Theory and Practice in American Shipyards, 1938-1946,”
History and Technology, vol. 19, no. 2 (June 2003): 87-108.
“Multiples of Six: The Six Companies and West Coast Industrialization, 1930-1945,” Enterprise &
Society, vol. 4, no. 1 (March 2003): 1-27.
Book Reviews
Paul A.C. Koistinen, Arsenal of World War II: The Political Economy of American Warfare, 19401945, on EH.Net Economic History Services: htttp://www.eh.net/bookreviews/library/0884.shtml.
Frederic Lane et al, A History of Shipbuilding Under the U.S. Maritime Commission in World War II,
in Science and Public Policy, vol. 29, no. 4 (2002), 239-240.
Barbara A. Milkovich, It’s Gone; Did you Notice? A History of the Mesabi Range Village of Franklin,
Minnesota, in IA: Industrial Archeology, vol. 27, no. 2 (2001): 66-67.
Historical Work in Progress
Launching a Thousand Ships: Entrepreneurs, Workers, and the State in American Shipbuilding, 19401945 (to be submitted to the Johns Hopkins University Press, early 2005)
Tassava curriculum vitae, p. 1
“Prefabricating Victory: Shipbuilding at Richmond, California, 1940-1945,” IA: Industrial
Archeology (forthcoming, 2005)
“The New New Deal: the U.S. Maritime Commission during World War II” (to be submitted to the
Business History Review, early 2005).
“Government by Another Name: Kaiser and Bechtel, Supercontracting, and the American State” (to be
submitted to the Journal of American History, early 2005).
“Twin Ports Shipbuilding at War, 1941-1945” (to be submitted to Minnesota History, early 2005).
Other Published Work
“World War II Economy” in EH.Net Encyclopedia of Economic and Business History, Robert
Whaples, ed. (2005).
“Blended Learning at Capella University: Asserting the Efficacy of Online Learning” (with Michael
Offerman) in The Handbook of Blended Learning Environments: Global Perspectives, Local
Designs, Curt Bonk & Charles Graham, eds. (New York: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, forthcoming).
“Assessing the Relationship between Learner Satisfaction and Faculty Participation in Online Course
Discussions” (with Dana Offerman and Kim Pearce) in Online Assessment and Measurement:
Case Studies from Higher Education, K-12, and Corporate (Volume II), Scott Howell, ed.
(Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing, forthcoming).
“Fates Tough on Our War Presidents” (opinion article), [Minneapolis] Star Tribune, March 13, 2004:
A23.
“Cook County Morgue” and “Medical Societies and Journals” in The Encyclopedia of Chicago
History, James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, and Janice L. Reiff, eds. (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 2004).
“Finding Academic Work in a For-Profit Setting,” The Chronicle of Higher Education (2003).
(Invited column for “First Person” feature.)
“Assembly line,” “Construction Industry,” “Charles H. Cramp,” “James J. Hill,” “Henry J. Kaiser,”
“Ralph Nader,” “Shipbuilding Industry,” “Frederick Winslow Taylor” in The Encyclopedia of
American Industrial History, ed. Thomas Heinrich (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, forthcoming).
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Adjunct Professor
Department of History, Metropolitan State University (Minneapolis, MN)
“The History of Economic Thought” (summer 2005)
“The American Past: From 1865” (spring 2004)
“U.S. Economic Life: Technology” (fall 2003)
Department of History, University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN)
“The Modern U.S. in Global Perspective” (fall 2001)
“Early America in Global Perspective” (spring 2002)
Tassava curriculum vitae, p. 2
University College, Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)
“The United States at War, 1941-1945” (summer 2000)
Teaching Assistant
Department of History, Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)
“History of Modern Science and Medicine” (spring 2000)
“The United States since 1865” (winter 1999 and 2000)
“The United States to 1865” (fall 1998)
RESEARCH & TEACHING FIELDS
United States History
Technology and Science
Business and Industry
The United States in the World
American West
Comparative Cold War History
OTHER ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
University Administrator
Writer/Editor, Offices of Assessment and Communication, Capella University (Minneapolis, MN).
(2003-present)
Write accreditation and institutional research reports, official communications, publications for internal
and external audiences, U.S. Department of Education, other regulatory bodies.
Faculty Associate, School of Business, Capella University. (2002-2003)
Administered distance-learning graduate program; developed online course on American
economic/technological history; served on committees on academic probation, web-based
admissions, curriculum improvement, other topics.
Consultant
Contract historian, National Park Service (2002- 2004)
Researched and wrote report on the labor history of Kaiser Shipyard No. 3 at Richmond, California for
“Rosie the Riveter” Historical Park (project co-sponsored by San Francisco Bay organizations and
the US National Park Service); supervisor: Richard O’Connor, Historic American Engineering
Record, National Park Service.
Archival and periodicals researcher (1995-2002)
Researched history of American telecommunications for forthcoming book by Prof. Richard R. John,
Department of History, University of Illinois at Chicago.
Identified and secured permissions for illustrations in Laura Hein and Mark Selden, eds., Censoring
History: Citizenship and Memory in Japan, Germany, and the United States (Armonk, NY: M.E.
Sharpe, 2000).
PRESENTATIONS AND LECTURES
“The War of Our Youth: World War II– 60 Years Later”
Center for Senior Citizens' Education, University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN; 2005)
Tassava curriculum vitae, p. 3
“Prefabricating Victory: Shipbuilding at Richmond, California, 1940-1945”
Society for Industrial Archeology annual conference (Providence, RI; 2004)
“‘No More Vital Work’: Quality Control in World War II Shipbuilding”
“Reinventing the Factory,” Hagley Fellows Conference (Wilmington, DE; 2003)
“Standing Up, Falling Down: American Merchant Shipbuilding, 1936-1958”
co-organized panel, “Global Shipbuilding in War and Reconstruction”
Society for the History of Technology annual conference (Toronto, ON; 2002)
“Twin Ports Shipbuilding at War, 1941-1945”
Northern Great Plains History Conference (Minneapolis, MN; 2002)
“Weak Seams: Welding and Technical Uncertainty in American Shipbuilding, 1938-1946”
Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of the Physical Sciences (Atlanta, GA; 2002)
“Metal and Machinery: Merchant Shipbuilding Procurement by the U.S. Maritime Commission during
World War II”
Policy History Conference (St. Louis, MO; 2002)
“Multiples of Six: The Six Companies and West Coast Industrialization, 1930-1945”
Business History Conference (Wilmington, DE; 2002)
“War Work in Flux: Male and Female Welders in Bay Area Shipyards, 1940-1946”
Society for the History of Technology annual conference (San Jose, CA; 2001)
“Crossing the Bridge of Ships: Bay Area Shipbuilders in the Postwar World”
“Engineering Postwar Industry: 1940s-1970s” conference, Hagley Museum and Library (Wilmington,
DE; 2001)
“Cloaked in the Utmost Secrecy: Plutonium Production at Hanford, Washington, 1942-1946”
“Technology, Politics, and Culture” seminar, Newberry Library (Chicago, IL; 2000)
“Cloaked in the Utmost Secrecy: Secrecy and Technology at Hanford, Washington, 1942-1946”
Society for the History of Technology annual conference (Detroit, MI; 1999)
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
H-Business email listserv (2003-2006)
Co-editor of H- Business email listserv: handle and disseminate academic email messages to
community of scholars interested in the history of business: http://www.h-net.org/~business/.
Northwestern University Graduate School (2002-2003)
Participant, Electronic Dissertation Pilot Program.
Newberry Library (1997-2000)
Assistant Director, “Technology, Politics, and Culture” seminar.
Northwestern University (1998-1999)
Tassava curriculum vitae, p. 4
Representative, Graduate History Student Organization (liaison between graduate students,
departmental faculty, Graduate School administration).
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
“Breaking Barriers” conference on English-as-a-second-language education; School of Continuing
Studies, University of St. Thomas (2002).
Faculty Development Program; Northwestern University (2000).
FELLOWSHIPS AND HONORS
Northwestern University
Initiative Fellow, Science in Human Culture Program (full stipend/tuition waiver, 2001-2002)
Evan R. Frankel Foundation Fellow, Department of History (full stipend/tuition waiver, 2000-2001)
Fellow, History and Philosophy of Science and Technology Program (full stipend/tuition waiver, 19971998)
Hagley Museum and Library (Wilmington, DE)
Fellow, Center for the History of Technology, Business, and Society (stipend, 2001)
Newberry Library (Chicago, IL)
Fellow, Hermon S. Dunlap Center for the History of Cartography (stipend, 1998)
Business History Conference
Winner, Newcomen Travel Grant (travel grant for annual meeting, 2002)
Northwestern University
Winner, Graduate Research Grant (research expenses, 2000-2001)
Winner, George Romani Prize for best M.A. thesis (1998)
Society for the History of Technology
Winner, Graduate Student Travel Grants (1999, 2001, 2002)
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS
Economic History Association
American Historical Association
Business History Conference
Organization of American Historians
Society for the History of Technology
Society for Industrial Archeology
Tassava curriculum vitae, p. 5

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